Sources

Bibliography

1. full source reference

Game and Story Use

"Small arms" is an important category in military thinking - it's a common stipulation that troops in a given deployment (such as a peacekeeping mission) or abandoning a position on terms are restricted to taking small arms with them. It may also be an import restriction to a controlled area, or a limit to what a merchant stocks or is permitted to stock.

Likewise it will probably be a red line as to what the local authorities are prepared to tolerate - for example in your colonial era campaign, the governor of the colony you arrive at will probably not bat an eyelid at your two-bore elephant gun, your state of the art magazine rifle or those new fangled Mauser self loading pistols (unless you've brought enough to arm a revolt), but will be very interested if he sees your porters wheeling a Maxim or a Gardner Gun down the gang plank, let alone an actual cannon.